Non-doms bankroll a tenth of political donations
Investigation discovers that almost 10% of contributions made to political parties since 2001 have come from non-dom sources or those able to claim the break
Non-doms have sunk more than £17.5m into political party war chests since
2001, a study has shown.
Figures compiled by
the Observer,
using information collated by the Electoral Commission, showed that of the
£188.3m raised by political parties in the UK since 2001, almost a tenth was
contributed by non-doms, or those who would be in a position to claim the break
if they so chose.
The Labour Party has benefited to the tune of £8.9m, the Conservatives have
raked in £5.7m, while the Lib Dems have accepted £2.9m from super-rich backers.
The debate concerning the tax benefits non-doms enjoy on overseas income has
come back to the fore in the last week after the Tories and the Labour Party
have tried to use it as a political wrecking ball.
The Labour Party was left red-faced after it emerged that Alistair Darling’s
broadside on the Tory’s estimates of the number of non-doms was based on
questionable evidence.
Further reading:
Tories
want Darling apology in non-dom row